Trainee Incentive and Reward Method

ABSTRACT

The invention is a method and system that provides for efficiently incentivising and rewarding employees for their successful use of a training system or other employer defined metrics by utilizing Smartcard® cards and You Did It Right® cards. Successful demonstration of training and performance metrics is rewarded through such rewards as gift cards or discount coupons redeemable for goods and/or services at retail/service centers.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-In-Part Application that claims thebenefit of pending PCT Application number PCT/US08/68912 filed on Jul.1, 2008 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application havingSer. No. 60/947,499 filed on Jul. 2, 2007. This Continuation-In-Partapplication also claims the benefit of pending U.S. Application havingSer. No. 11/340,205 filed on Jan. 26, 2006 which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application having Ser. No. 60/660,300 on Mar. 10,2005.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCED OR INCORPORATED MATERIAL

PCT Application PCT/US08/68912 and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/340,205and their parent U.S. Provisional Applications, respectively 60/947,499and 60/660,300, are herein incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of employee incentives and inparticular to a method of incentivising and rewarding employees wherebyincentive rewards are presented to employees after they satisfactorilycomplete a training module, meet health/fitness goals, or otherwisesatisfactorily perform actions that the employer wants to incentivise.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method forefficiently incentivising and rewarding employees for their successfuluse of the training system, health regime, sales goals, injuryprevention, or other employer defined performance metrics by utilizingrewards in the form of gifts or discount coupons redeemable for goodsand/or services at retail/service centers. In alternate embodiments,these discount coupons are only redeemed when further combined withemployees' own money. This system provides employers with a way ofinfusing incentive and training goals into an employment setting with abalanced cost. The boundaries of the present invention are not limitedby the brick and mortar, pen and paper world as the invention may beutilized via the internet or other virtual settings.

In this novel way, the present invention includes discrete steps appliedto train or otherwise measure progress of employees, reward employees,and capture the essence of the applied reward as it relates to thecompleted training module or satisfied performance metric. Thus, thesystem is designed to concentrate the reward so as to parallel thebenefit gained by the employer via the training or performance metric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing the method of rewarding trainees thatutilizes a You Did It Right!® card.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing the method of rewarding trainees thatutilizes a SmartCard® card.

FIG. 3 is an example representation of a You Did It Right! card.

FIG. 4 is an example representation of a SmartCard card.

FIG. 5 is an example representation of an input screen of an interactiveinput response device where the device is a personal computer terminaland the method of rewarding trainees utilizes the You Did It Right! cardembodiment.

FIG. 6 is an example representation of a response screen of aninteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal and the reward is a gift code that may be used toacquire for goods/services.

FIG. 7 is an example representation of an input screen of an interactiveinput response device where the device is a personal computer terminaland the method of rewarding trainees utilizes the SmartCard cardembodiment.

FIG. 8 is an example representation of an input testing screen of aninteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal and the method of rewarding trainees utilizes theSmartCard card embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an example representation of a response screen of aninteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal and the reward is a gift card that will be mailed tothe employee and may be redeemed for goods/services.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing the basic method without a 3^(rd)party card provider.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing the basic method utilizing a 3^(rd)party card provider.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing the utilization of a You Did It Right!card as part of the method where the incentive company contracts withthe retail/service center.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing the utilization of a SmartCard as partof the method where the incentive company contracts with theretail/service center.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing the health screening embodiment of themethod.

FIG. 15 is a perspective drawing showing an employee using theinteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing the testing subroutine that takesplace during the testing step where the employee is tested.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is to be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art thatthe present discussion is a description of exemplary embodiments only,and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects of the presentinvention. The following examples are provided to further illustrate theinvention and are not to be construed to unduly limit the scope of theinvention.

The present invention is defined by a number of steps with differentactors or entities carrying out those steps. Typically, there are 4 or 5principal actors. Depending on the particular embodiment, these actorscan be identified by a number of different labels some of which will beexplained herein.

The first actor is the client company. The client company is anyorganization that has a need to train or otherwise monitor and improvethe performance of its individual constituents. Typically, this is acompany that needs to train or monitor its employees. For instance, thecompany might wish to train employees about a new procedure or salestechnique, or monitor efficient use of a machine, or even monitor andtrain regarding safety and personal health procedures. However, theclient company could also be a school, a sports team, a governmentagency, or other such organizations. A school might wish to monitorteachers or educate students. The sports team might need to teach atechnique or monitor personal health practices. Likewise, a governmentagency might need to train its employees.

A second actor is the individual employee. The employee is any humanconstituent of an organization that needs to be trained, incentivized,or otherwise monitored. Typically the employee works for a company butthe employee could be a student, team member, or even an independentcontractor performing work for the client company.

A third actor is the retail store or other entity that accepts rewardcards and coupons from the employee and grants discounts on purchases ofgoods or services. This retail store offers goods or services to theemployee. It can operate from brick and mortar store fronts or it can bevirtual in nature operating via the Internet. In the preferredembodiment, the retail store or service center's trade name will appearon the face of the coupon. In one embodiment, several different retailstores may have their trademarks appear in connection with a singlereward and coupon such that a single coupon may be redeemable at one ofmultiple retail stores.

A fourth actor is the incentive company. This entity provides trainingmodules, health assessments, or performance metrics to the clientcompany, based on client company's goals, along with correlated rewardsand coupons. The performance metrices can be supplied to the incentivecompany up front as part of the contract between the client company andthe incentive company or they can be supplied as necessary bysupervisors or managers. For instance, in one embodiment, the incentivecompany provides the managers with a website where they can upload a fewkey behaviors that they want to incentivize. The incentive companycollects, correlates, and analyzes incentive/performance data andreports such analysis and aggregate data to the client company. Inalternate embodiments, the incentive company either produces the rewardsand coupons itself, receives the rewards and coupons from the retailstore, or receives the rewards and coupons from a third party cardprovider.

A fifth actor is a third party card provider. The third party cardprovider exists in alternate embodiments in order to facilitate thereward and coupon transfers between the retail establishments and theincentive company. As such, the third party card provider issues giftcard rewards and/or the coupon rewards. This company can also extendcredit to the incentive company to cover the potential for couponredemption.

In addition to the principal actors, there are important concepts todefine with respect to the present invention. First, there is thetraining module. The training module is a training process designed bythe incentive company to meet the training needs of the client company.This module includes many different approaches to train the employees.Typically the training module will include an instruction step and atesting step.

The instruction step is used to convey individual nuggets of informationto the employee. This instruction step could include seminars, lectures,demonstrations, or wall posters among many others. In an embodiment thatuses wall posters, the posters are customizable whereby employers and/ortheir managers can upload key behaviors they want to incentivize and canalso upload pictures for the posters (such as photo of an employeeperforming a task the correct way). The instruction step subject mattercan vary greatly. It might involve instructions on proper use of a pieceof machinery or it might involve work place etiquette. Further, theinstruction step subject might extend to personal health and fitness orproblem solving skills.

One embodiment of the instruction step utilizes a concept called“SmartCards.” In this embodiment, the important nuggets of informationare displayed in the facility on a poster for the employees to observeon a daily basis. In the preferred embodiment, these same nuggets arereproduced in miniature form on a small card, called a SmartCard, whichthe employee can carry around for reference and review. This SmartCardcould be a physical card made of paper or other three dimensionalmaterial or it could be an email or other electronic form. In any event,the SmartCard will have a series of desired learning points displayedthereon that the employee is advised to study.

Likewise, the testing step can take many forms. In the preferredembodiment, the employee is tested on the information contained on theSmartCard or other embodiments of the instruction step via aninteractive input response device. This interactive input responsedevice is typically a computer terminal located in a kiosk in thefacility or it could be a personal or office computer. In someembodiments a computer program running on the terminal would present aseries of questions to the employee related to the nuggets on theSmartCard. In the preferred embodiment, the interactive input responsedevice is in the form of a terminal directly linked via the internet orsome intranet to the incentive company servers and database where codeis executed that presents a series of questions related to the nuggetsof information on the SmartCard. The employee would input answers viathe computer to satisfy the testing step. In alternate embodiments, inplace of a computer terminal, the testing step is actuated via theinteractive input response device that could utilize a telephone orother means such as paper mail forms. In the case of a telephone, ratherthan directly logging onto the terminal, the employee would call atelephone number found on the SmartCard and the phone number would linkto the incentive company's server database where the questions would beasked and the employee would respond.

In the case of the SmartCard embodiment, the SmartCard itself would alsoinclude an alpha-numeric identifier that is entered by the employee intothe interactive input response device so that the incentive companyservers know which questions apply to the data contained on theSmartCard. Likewise, the alpha-numeric identifier could be entered viatelephone or via other means such as paper mail forms.

The training module may also be a set of performance metrics used tomonitor and judge the performance of employees for particular tasks andjob requirements. For instance, employers would monitor employees to seeif they are performing satisfactorily in compliance with these metrics.Observation of compliance with these metrics would parallel successfultesting in the testing sub-step. Employees would, thus, be expected todemonstrate information gleaned in the instruction step by integratingthat information into their job performance. When the supervisors, peeremployees, or others depending on the particular embodiment, notice theadvancement based on the nuggets, the employee would satisfy the testingstep requirements. In one embodiment of this form of the training andtesting module, the supervisor would be given a number of “You Did ItRight!” cards, and, upon observing compliance with the performancemetrics, would be entitled to distribute the You Did It Right! cards tothe respective employees who satisfied the performance metric. The YouDid It Right! card would have an alpha-numeric identifier and also havefields for the supervisor to fill in such information as the ID numberof the employee observed, the ID number of the supervisor who observedthe employee, the date observed, and check boxes for the behaviorsobserved in compliance with the training step. To complete the testingstep, the employee would enter this information from the You Did ItRight! card along with the alpha-numeric number into the interactiveinput response device such as a computer terminal or other means such asa telephone. This information is thereby related to and stored in theincentive company's database for analysis. In this way, the You Did ItRight! card is thus a way to validate that feedback was given and toeliminate pencil whipping among other positive outcomes.

Parallel to the concept of issuing You Did It Right! cards fordemonstration of performance metrics is issuing you-did-it-wrong cardsfor failure to demonstrate the performance metrics correctly. Here thesupervisors are given a set of you-did-it wrong cards where they fillout the employee ID number of the employee and the employee ID number ofthe supervisor. The supervisor then checks off what the employee wasobserved doing incorrectly. The supervisor logs this information inthrough the interactive input response device and issues the card to theemployee. This information is thereby related to and stored in theincentive company's database for analysis and later presentment to theclient company.

Another concept that needs to be defined is the critical rewardsconcept. The reward is a valuable offering provided upon thesatisfactory completion of the testing step of a training module.Typically the client company is seen as conferring the reward on theemployee. The reward, however, may originate from a variety of sources,including the incentive company as in the preferred embodiment. Thereward may be a physical good and it may also be a gift card that can beredeemed for goods, services, or other employee related perks such asadditional vacation days. The reward may be in the form of redeemabletoken-tickets which may be collected and later redeemed for physicalprizes from stores or catalogues. The reward might be a scratch off cardwhere the employee scratches off one or more hidden areas to revealprizes. This scratch off might be a physical card or it could be anonline virtual scratch off. In such a virtual scratch off, the virtualscratch off comprises a web page comprising a scratch off area whichreveals a prize when the user clicks inside the scratch off area. Theprize could be a movie ticket, a trip/vacation, or meal. In oneembodiment of the present invention, the reward is a discount couponthat can be redeemed at the retail store. This coupon can take on avariety of forms. It could literally be a piece of paper indicating adiscount on a particular brand item, on a particular class of goods,from a particular store, or from a particular group of stores. Forexample, the coupon might apply to Nike® shoes from any store, or to anyfootwear from any store, or to any goods from a Foot Locker® store, orto any goods from a Foot Locker® or a Wal-Mart® store, or to an OliveGarden Italian Restaurant® eating establishment or to any combinationthereof.

In each of these rewards scenarios described above, the reward ispreferably issued from the incentive company. In the embodiments wherethe employee contacts the incentive company servers via the interactiveinput response device, the servers are programmed to issue the reward.The type of reward issued can vary depending on the particularembodiment. The reward could be directly tied to the particular nuggetsgleaned and successfully tested in a test on the interactive inputresponse device in the SmartCard embodiment or observed in the You DidIt Right! card embodiment. The reward could also be given at random sothat one satisfaction of the testing step results in, for instance, a$10 gift card, a $20 gift card, or a $100 gift card chosen at random.Additionally, in the preferred embodiment, the reward may alternativelybe linked to a variable win algorithm that rewards first time employeesmore often and with higher value gifts than repeat employees. In allcases, the reward system screens out the employees from fraudulentlyclaiming more cards than received and likewise monitors supervisorsdistribution of cards to prevent managers from unfairly rewarding thesame employee too frequently.

Importantly, the coupon is not limited to the brick and mortar world,that is, it can be used in the virtual world of the Internet. Eachcoupon will have a unique identification number associated with it aswell as other information about the value of the reward, the redemptionlocations to which it is tied, and any other applicable conditions. Theidentification number can be entered in the appropriate manner on awebsite of a retail store that honors the coupon. In this way, theholder of the coupon would be able to use the identification number toredeem the reward over the Internet. Additionally, this identificationnumber may be displayed literally using Arabic numerals but it could berepresented via scanner/computer readable bar code or otherwise withimbedded binary numbers readable by a computer.

As for the value of the reward, the amount could vary considerably. Inthe coupon embodiment however, the basic concept is that the employeewould be offered a discount. In many cases the employee would still berequired to convey some of his or her own money in order to complete thetransaction. The coupon could, thus, be $5.00 off of a purchase of$10.00 or $50.00 off of a purchase of$100.00. Just the same, the couponcould be 25% off total purchase or 50% off of a single item purchase.Moreover, the coupon could also be for $20.00 off of a purchase of$20.00 or more in which case the employee would not have to use any ofhis or her own money if the purchase amounted to exactly $20.00.

Utilizing these entities and concepts, the present invention furthercontemplates a system whereby incentive companies contract eitherdirectly with retail stores or through third party card providers toobtain redeemable coupons. The incentive companies also contract withclient companies to provide training modules and reward packagesintegrating the redeemable coupons. When the training modules aresatisfactorily completed by the trainees or employees, reward couponsare distributed to the employees. The employees then take the coupons tothe relevant retail store front, either the physical store or the onlinestore, where the employees make purchases using their own money incombination with the discount coupon. The retailer (or service provider)then, having extended provisional credit to the coupon generator,applies to the respective coupon generator, that is either to the thirdparty card provider or directly to the incentive company. In the case ofthe third party card provider, that entity will then, in turn, apply theredeemed coupon to the incentive company for reimbursement.

A final step in alternate embodiments occurs after the primary cycle hasbeen completed, that is, after the instruction, the testing, therewarding, and, alternatively in some embodiments, the redemption, there-imbursement, etc. . . . This final step is the reporting step andinvolves the aggregation of data by the incentive company and then thereporting back to the client company this data. For instance, in ahypothetical manufacturing setting, the incentive company would providethe client company with SmartCards and associated potential rewards toteach ergonomic methods for lifting a box. The client company wouldoffer instruction to the employees and distribute the SmartCards to theemployees. The employees would then access an interactive input responsedevice such as a computer terminal or telephone, enter the SmartCardalpha numeric number, take a test, receive a reward for passing thetest, and redeem the reward at a retail location. The retail center thenseeks reimbursement (as necessary such as for the coupon embodiment)from either the third party card provider or the incentive company asnecessitated by the particular embodiment. The incentive companyreceives information on test passage rates regarding the variousemployees via the computer terminal and data regarding their respectiveredemptions of rewards via retail centers and/or the third party cardproviders. The incentive company then aggregates, analyzes, and reportsthe data to the client company. The data can be aggregated and sortedinto unit areas, sub areas, particular supervisor areas, or otherdivisions from companywide level down to the individual level. For eachlevel, the progress or lack thereof can be tracked and monitored. Forinstance, in a factory, second shift supervisors might observe 3employees lifting with their legs and not their backs and accordinglyhand out 3 You Did It Right! cards in month 1. If they then handed out 7such You Did It Right! cards in month 2, the incentive company wouldtrack this data and report it back to the client company. This reportwould be in the form of updatable wall posters but also on a websiteportal or dashboard. For instance, the website view will represent allmanagers as color coded dots with red for noncompliant, yellow formarginal compliance, and green for full compliance with the improvementmetrics. Additionally, clicking on the coded dots reveals the underlyingraw data.

Likewise, in a hypothetical manufacturing setting where You Did ItRight! cards are utilized, the incentive company would provide theclient company with the You Did It Right! cards and associated potentialrewards to reward successful utilization of ergonomic methods forlifting a box. The client company distributes the You Did It Right!cards to supervisors to use to reward employees. The employees, havingreceived a You Did It Right! card would then access an interactive inputresponse device such as a computer terminal, enter the You Did It Right!card data, receive a reward, and redeem the reward at a retail location.The retail center then seeks reimbursement (as necessary such as for thecoupon embodiment) from either the third party card provider or theincentive company as necessitated by the particular embodiment. Theincentive company receives information entered into the terminal by theemployee from the card regarding the success of the employee as well asthe supervisor who observed the success. Communicating with the retailcenter or the third party card provider, the incentive company alsoreceives data regarding the respective redemptions of rewards. Theincentive company then aggregates, analyzes, and reports the data to theclient company.

Another way the You Did It Right! card concept may be used is in a peerreview situation where peer employees (instead of supervisors) reviewpositive or negatives implementations of the instruction step. Here, theincentive company would provide the client company with the You Did ItRight! cards and associated potential rewards to reward to incentivisesuccessful identification of successes and/or failures to following thetraining step. The client company distributes the You Did It Right!cards to employees, the employees observe their peers, and describesafety hazards and mistakes and/or successes of other employees. Theemployees, having filled out their You Did It Right! card would thenaccess a computer terminal, enter the You Did It Right! card dataidentifying the safety hazards created by others or the successes ofothers, enter the alpha-numeric identifier, receive a reward, and redeemthe reward at a retail location. The retail center then seeksreimbursement (as necessary such as for the coupon embodiment) fromeither the third party card provider or the incentive company asnecessitated by the particular embodiment. The incentive company thenreceives information entered into the terminal by the employee from thecard regarding the peer and workplace review by the employee of theother employees. Communicating with the retail center or the third partycard provider, the incentive company also receives data regarding therespective redemptions of rewards. The incentive company thenaggregates, analyzes, and reports the data to the client company,thereby allowing the company to have a record of success and failureswhile allowing whistle blowers the benefit of anonymity.

Likewise, in a hypothetical business or manufacturing setting whereaggregate employees' health is being promoted, monitored and rewarded,the incentive company would provide the client company with literatureregarding healthy living. The incentive company or a medical firm wouldschedule health screenings whereby employees are examined. Whenemployees receive positive checkups or otherwise show improvement inhealth, such as an improved cholesterol score, the employees are givenyou-did-it right cards. The employees, having received a You Did ItRight! card would then access a computer terminal, enter the You Did ItRight! card data, receive a reward, and redeem the reward at a retaillocation. The retail center then seeks reimbursement (as necessary suchas for the coupon embodiment) from either the third party card provideror the incentive company as necessitated by the particular embodiment.The incentive company then receives information entered into theterminal by the employee from the You Did It Right! card regarding thehealth status of the employee. Communicating with the retail center orthe third party card provider, the incentive company also receives dataregarding the respective redemptions of rewards. The incentive companythen aggregates, analyzes, and reports the data to the client company.As such, without disclosing private health data of individual employees,the incentive company is able to report on the aggregate health of theclient company's work force as well as any improvements. Further, theincentive company will be able to tailor health incentive programs forhigher risk employees without penetrating the employee/employer privacywall.

1. A method of training and rewarding a trainee comprising the steps of:Step 1) providing an incentive company, a client company, a plurality ofemployees of said client company, a plurality of unique employee IDnumbers, each of said employee ID numbers linked to a single employee,an interactive input response device, and a redemption center; Step 2)said incentive company providing a training module and a rewards packageto said client company; Step 3) said client company providing aplurality of instruction opportunities to said employees, saidinstruction opportunities having been provided to said client company aspart of the training module in step 2, said instruction opportunitiesoffering employees a plurality of important nuggets of information; Step4) said client company providing a plurality of testing opportunities tosaid employees wherein the information contained in said instructionopportunities provided in step 3 is tested; Step 5) said client companyproviding a reward to said employees for a satisfactory completion ofthe testing in step 4, said client company having been provided withsaid rewards as part of said rewards package provided in step 2; Step 6)said employee redeeming the reward from said redemption center; Step 7)said incentive company compiling a plurality of statistics through theaggregation of data related to employee completion of testing of saidplurality testing opportunities provided in and tested in step 4; Step8) said incentive company analyzing said statistics compiled in step 7;and Step 9) said incentive company reporting said statistics compiled instep 7 and analyzed in step 8 to said client company in the form of afeedback report.
 2. The method of training and rewarding a trainee ofclaim 1 wherein the instruction opportunities provided in step 3comprise a plurality of large training posters and a plurality ofSmartCard cards wherein said SmartCards have disposed thereon saidplurality of important nuggets of information and are coded with analpha-numeric identifier.
 3. The method of training and rewarding atrainee of claim 2 wherein the testing opportunities provided in step 4further comprise the sub-steps of: Step 4A) providing an incentivecompany computer network loaded with a computer code directed to atesting program and linking said interactive input response device tosaid incentive company computer network; Step 4B) said employeesentering the alpha-numeric identifiers from said SmartCards into saidinteractive input response device and said employees entering theirunique employee ID number into said interactive input response device;Step 4C) said incentive company computer network, having been linkedwith said interactive input response device in Step 4A, linking saidalpha-numeric identifiers with a set of test questions linked to thenuggets of information of said SmartCard and testing employee retentionof said nuggets of information of said SmartCard; Step 4D) said employeetaking the test via the interactive input response device linked in Step4A; and Step 4E) said incentive company computer network scoring thetest that was taken by the employee in Step 4D.
 4. The method oftraining and rewarding a trainee of claim 3 wherein the provision of thereward to said employees of Step 5 comprises the sub-steps of: Step 5A)said incentive company computer network computing a frequency with whichan employee has become eligible for a reward; Step 5B) said incentivecompany computer network applying a variable win algorithm that rewardsfirst time and less frequent employee test takers with higher valuerewards than repeat and more frequent employee test takers as identifiedin step 5A; and Step 5C) said incentive company computer networkrelaying the reward to the employee via the interactive input responsedevice.
 5. The method of training and rewarding a trainee of claim 2wherein the testing opportunities provided in step 4 further comprisesthe sub-steps of: Step 4A) providing a plurality of supervisors ofemployees with a plurality of You Did It Right! cards wherein each ofthe You Did It Right! cards comprises an alpha-numeric identifier, aspace for the supervisor to input his employee ID number, a space forthe supervisor to input the employee's employee ID number, and aplurality of check boxes respectively printed next to the plurality ofimportant nuggets of information provided in step 3; providing anincentive company computer network, linked to said interactive inputresponse device, loaded with a computer code capable of counting thefrequency with which employee ID numbers and You Did It Right! cardnumber are entered, and loaded with a computer code that can issue areward; Step 4B) observing a plurality of work habits of the employeesby the supervisors for compliance with the important nuggets ofinformation gleaned by the employees in the instruction opportunitiesprovided in step 3; Step 4C) checking the boxes located next to theimportant nuggets of information on the You Did It Right! card thatcorrespond with work habits observed in step 4B by the supervisor,filling in the employee ID number box with the employee ID number of theemployee observed in step 4B by the supervisor, and filling in thesupervisor's employee ID number box with the employee ID number of thesupervisor by the supervisor. Step 4D) issuing the You Did It Right!card to the employee that was observed in step 4B.
 6. The method oftraining and rewarding a trainee of claim 5 wherein the reward given instep 5 is a You Did It Right! card which was provided to the supervisorsin step 4A and checked and filled by the supervisors in step 4C.
 7. Themethod of training and rewarding a trainee of claim 6 wherein theprovision of the reward to said employees in Step 5 comprises thesub-steps of: Step 5A) said employee accessing the interactive inputresponse device, entering the alpha-numeric identifier of the You Did ItRight!-card, entering the employee's employee ID number; entering theemployee's supervisor's employee ID number, and selecting which nuggetthe supervisor checked in step 4C; Step 5B) said incentive companycomputer network computing a frequency with which an employee hasreceived You Did It Right! cards in the past; Step 5C) said incentivecompany computer network applying a variable win algorithm that rewardsfirst time and less frequent employee You Did It Right! card recipientswith higher value rewards than repeat and more frequent employee You DidIt Right! card recipients as identified in step 5B; and Step 5D) saidincentive company computer network relaying the reward to the employeevia the interactive input response device.
 8. The method of training andrewarding a trainee of claim 4 wherein: said interactive input responsedevice is a telephone wherein the employee uses said telephone to call atelephone number operably linked to said incentive company computernetwork and step 5 further comprises step 5D wherein a reward gift cardis mailed to the employee.
 9. The method of training and rewarding atrainee of claim 7 wherein: said interactive input response device is atelephone wherein the employee uses said telephone to call a telephonenumber operably linked to said incentive company computer network andstep 5 further comprises step 5E wherein a reward gift card is mailed tothe employee.
 10. The method of training and rewarding a trainee ofclaim 4 wherein said interactive input response device is a personalcomputer linked to the internet wherein the employee logs onto theincentive company computer network via the internet.
 11. The method oftraining and rewarding a trainee of claim 7 wherein said interactiveinput response device is a personal computer linked to the internetwherein the employee logs onto the incentive company computer networkvia the internet.
 12. The method of training and rewarding a trainee ofclaim 4 wherein the progress chart of step 9 comprises: a largeupdatable poster that can be manually updated with the statisticsanalyzed in step 8 and a website where a plurality of manager employeesof said client company can log in and check the statistics of theemployees that were tested in step 4D and scored in step 4E wherein thestatistics are grouped and aggregated by supervisor and they can alsocheck the statistics of individual employees.
 13. The method of trainingand rewarding a trainee of claim 7 wherein the feedback report of step 9comprises: a large updatable poster that can be manually updated withthe statistics analyzed in step 8 and a website wherein a plurality ofmanager employees of said client company can log in and check thestatistics of the employees that were issued You Did It Right! cards instep 4D wherein the statistics are grouped and aggregated by supervisorand they can also check the statistics of individual employees.
 14. Themethod of training and rewarding a trainee of claim 1 wherein: step 1Bis inserted between step 1 and step 2, wherein step 1B comprisesproviding a website wherein the client company can upload nuggets ofinformation and photographs; step 1C is inserted between step 1B andstep 2, wherein step 1C comprises the client company uploading nuggetsof information and photographs of employees exhibiting the nuggets ofinformation; and the training module of step 2 comprises materialsutilizing the nuggets of information and photographs uploaded in step1C.
 15. A method for training and rewarding a trainee comprising:Step 1) providing an employee, providing said employee with an employeeID number, providing a supervisor of said employee, providing thesupervisor of said employee with an employee ID number, providing aninteractive input response device, providing a network system computerthat is linked to the input response device, and providing a set oftraining metrics; Step 2) training the employee based on the trainingmetrics; Step 3) providing the supervisor with a plurality of You Did ItRight! cards, said You Did It Right! cards having a space for thesupervisor to enter the supervisor's employee ID number, a space for thesupervisor to enter the employee's employee ID number, and a check boxlisted next to each one of said training metrics; Step 4) observing theemployee by the supervisor for demonstration of training learned in step2; Step 5) filling out the You Did It Right! card by the supervisor;Step 6) issuing the You Did It Right! card to the employee by thesupervisor; Step 7) accessing the interactive input response device bythe employee; Step 8) entering the respective employee ID numbers andchecked training metrics by the employee into the interactive inputresponse device; Step 9) calculating the value and type of reward to begiven to the employee by the network system computer; Step 10) issuingthe employee a reward; Step 11) repeating steps 1 through steps 10; andStep 12) collecting and analyzing a plurality of statistics on thenumber of You Did It Right! cards issued.
 16. The method for trainingand rewarding a trainee of claim 15 wherein the calculation performed instep 9 is based on a variable win algorithm that rewards first time andless frequent employee You Did It Right! card recipients with highervalue rewards than repeat and more frequent employee You Did It Right!card recipients.
 17. The method of training and rewarding a trainee ofclaim 16 wherein the interactive input response device is a telephone.18. The method of training rewarding a trainee of claim 16 wherein theinteractive input response device is a personal computer terminal.
 19. Amethod for training and rewarding a trainee comprising: Step 1)providing an employee, providing said employee with an employee IDnumber, providing an interactive input response device, providing anetwork system computer that is linked to the input response device, andproviding a set of training metrics; Step 2) providing the employee witha SmartCard, said SmartCard having displayed thereon a list of thetraining metrics and a unique identification number; Step 3) loading thenetwork system computer with a code that tests the training metrics;Step 4) accessing the interactive input response device by the employee;Step 5) entering the employee ID number and the unique identificationnumber of the SmartCard; Step 6) taking a test via the interactive inputresponse device that is being run on the network system computer; Step7) scoring the test by the network system computer; Step 9) calculatingthe value and type of reward to be given to the employee who has passedthe test of step 7 by the network system computer; and Step 10) issuingthe employee a reward. Step 11) repeating steps 1 through steps 10; andStep 12) collecting and analyzing a plurality of statistics on thenumber of SmartCards used and the number of tests passed.
 20. The methodfor training and rewarding a trainee of claim 19 wherein the calculationperformed in step 9 is based on a variable win algorithm that rewardsfirst time and less frequent employee test takers with higher valuerewards than repeat and more frequent employee test takers.
 21. Themethod of training rewarding a trainee of claim 20 wherein theinteractive input response device is a telephone.
 22. The method oftraining rewarding a trainee of claim 20 wherein the interactive inputresponse device is a personal computer terminal.
 23. A method fortraining a trainee and rewarding a supervisor of a trainee comprising:Step 1) providing an employee, providing said employee with an employeeID number, providing a supervisor of said employee, providing thesupervisor of said employee with an employee ID number, providing aninteractive input response device, providing a network system computerthat is linked to the input response device, and providing a set oftraining metrics; Step 2) training the employee based on the trainingmetrics; Step 3) providing the supervisor with a plurality ofyou-did-it-wrong cards, said you-did-it-wrong cards having a space forthe supervisor to enter the supervisor's employee ID number, a space forthe supervisor to enter the employee's employee ID number, and a checkbox listed next to each one of said training metrics in which theemployee failed to comply; Step 4) observing the employee by thesupervisor for failure to demonstrate one or more of the of trainingmetrics learned in step 2; Step 5) filling out the you-did-it-wrong cardby the supervisor; Step 6) issuing the you-did-it-wrong card to theemployee by the supervisor; Step 7) accessing the interactive inputresponse device by the supervisor; Step 8) entering the respectiveemployee ID numbers and checked training metrics by the supervisor intothe interactive input response device; Step 9) calculating the value andtype of reward to be given to the supervisor by the network systemcomputer; Step 10) issuing the supervisor a reward; Step 11) repeatingsteps 1 through steps 10; and Step 12) collecting and analyzing aplurality of statistics on the number of you-did-it-wrong cards issued.24. The method of training rewarding a trainee of claim 23 wherein theinteractive input response device is a telephone.
 25. The method oftraining rewarding a trainee of claim 23 wherein the interactive inputresponse device is a personal computer terminal.